Paige West speaks about 'Collaborative Coastal Planning in Papua New Guinea: An Anthropology of Letting Go.'
In New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Indigenous Elders have worked with Indigenous scientists and American anthropologists to develop new kinds of projects focused on socio-ecological and socio-spiritual revitalization. These locally designed and enacted projects are an Indigenous form of coastal planning which refuses both state-planning and conservation organization planning. This talk describes the process of collaboration that resulted in the methodology used to design, enact, and facilitate these projects.
Prof. PAIGE WEST, an endowed professor of anthropology, has worked with Indigenous peoples in Melanesia since the 1990s to understand their socio-ecological traditions. She is the author of three books, the editor of five more, and the author of many peer-review publications. Prof. West is the founder of the journal, Environment and Society and served as its editor for a decade. A Guggenheim Fellow, Prof. West is also the co-founder of two conservation-focused NGOs.
The Anthropology Faculty Talk Series establishes a collective space for our Professors at Columbia to present and discuss their current research projects. The Anthropology Graduate Students Association (AGSA) is the host of this series, with support from the Department of Anthropology.
